Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-06-01

An American ConsuPs Report Exten
sive Discoveries Made Recently.

Mention has been made in the dis
patches recently of extensive gold dis
coveries in South Africa. Vice-Con-
sui Knight, representing this Govern
ment at Cape Town, has forwarded to
the State Department an interesting re-
port upon the developments, in which
he says:
Gold mining in the Transvaal has
been carried ON in a desultsry manner
for something like fifteen years. The
fact that large portion of the north-'
eastern territory of the republic is
highly auriferous had been ascer-'
tanned years ago, but the failure
until quite recently to discover any,
thing like payable gold has kept the
fame of the Transvaal, as country OF
great mineral riches, in the back
ground. 1t was only in June last that
the now famous Sheba reef, in the De
Kaap Valley, was discovered. The
quartz from this reef yields from ten
to thirty ounces of gold to the ton. The
amount of gold that mining experts
claim this reef contains is fabulous.
But even this wonderful reef has
been eclipsed by another reef discov-.
cred shortly after and known as the
Thomas reef, samples of quartz weigh
ing 5000 pounds from which, it is
claimed yield 148 ounces of gold.
These discoveries naturally gave an
impetus to prospecting on a large
scale, resulting in the discovery of
marvelously extensive and rich gold
quartz veins. The territory within
which gold quartz has been found ex-
tends from Witwatersrand, 80 miles
from the capital, Pretoria, easterly 200
miles to the De Kaap valley, with
varying width of from 80 to $50 miles.
These gold-bearing veins or reefs
occur in patches of more or less
rich or payable character Quartz
taken from the Witwatersrand gold
fields has yielded from four to thirty
ounces of gold to the ton. 1t is,
of course, impossible, considering the
embryonic state of these gold fields, to
give any thing like an accurate account
of their extent OF capabilities. This
much / am able to state, from the best
information obtainable, that the Trans
vaal fields when fully developed will
prove among the richest in the world.
These discoveries have naturally given
rise to no end of speculation and min
ing ventures, and a great rush of cap
italists, miners and Adventures has set
in for the fields. Near the Shelba reef,
city, Barberton, has sprung up as if
by magic, numbering already 1000 to
5000 population, and is rapidly in
creasing. AS an illustration of faith
that men of capital have in the stabil-
ity and future of the fields, / may men
ton that three cargoes of lumber which
arrived in Cape Town within two weeks
were purchased for shipment to the
fields.
Barberton, the center of the fields,
is situated in the De Kaap Valley in
the northeastern portion of the Trans
vaal, between latitude 20 degrees and
26 degrees south. The nearest sea-
port is Delagoa Bay, in the Portuguese
possessions on the east coast from
which it is distant about 200 miles.
This route is only available in the
winter months, the prevalence of fever
in the summer time effectually closing
it to traffic. A railway between De'a-
goa Bay and Pretoria is in course of
construction, and it's completion will
greatly facilitate communication with
the fields. The next nearest route to
Barberton is via Port Natal, distant
4S1 miles, of which 189 miles is by
railway and the remainder by wagon.
The best and most popular route at
present is by way of Cape Town to
Kimberly, GAG miles by rail, and from
Kimberly to Kitoria, $50 miles by
wagon. The journey is made by this
route in from six to
twenty days, at cost from
$75 to $120, according to class and
style of travelling.
While these fields offer many oppor-
tunities for successful ventures to men
of capital, | can not too strongly point
out the futility Of men without means
venturing here, unless they be thor.
oughly practical miners. In the first.
place, no payable placer-gold washings
have as yet been discovered The re-.
suit of successful prospecting has thus
far been invariably the discovery of
gold-quartz reefs, the workings of.
which requires large expenditures for
machinery. While few have, and
others undoubtedly will, continue to
reap riches by the discovery of payable
gold reefs, thousands, who, in the alb
sence of alluvial diggings, will follow
prospecting, will, | fear, be doomed to
bitter disappointment. The large in
fiux of population has already raised
the price of food to famine prices. The
time that must elapse before COM
panies will be in working order, owing
to the want of machinery and the
difficulties of transport, makes the
employment of large bodies of men i'm
possible for some time to come.
The Transvaal mining laws are fair
ly liberal. Aliens enjoy the same rights
as citizens as to prospecting and min